The famous ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz are scheduled to go up for auction on Saturday, nearly twenty years after they were taken from a Minnesota museum.
The slippers are expected to sell for at least $3 million, according to Heritage Auctions. According to Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the Dallas-based auction house, online bidding began last month and by Friday had reached $1.55 million, or $1.91 million adding the buyer’s premium, a commission that the bidder pays. According to him, the company’s website for the sale received around 43,000 page views by Thursday, and more than 800 individuals were following the slippers.
The sequined shoes from the well-known 1939 musical have undergone more changes than the Yellow Brick Road, according to Rhys Thomas, author of the book The Ruby Slippers of Oz.
In 2005, Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s display case and door while they were on show at the Judy Garland Museum in her birthplace of Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Until the FBI found them in 2018, their whereabouts were unknown.Martin, who is currently 77 years old and resides in northern Minnesota close to Grand Rapids, was not made public as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. His guilty plea was entered in October 2023.Due to his bad health, he was sentenced to time served last January while in a wheelchair and using supplemental oxygen.
Martin had a lengthy history of burglaries and receiving stolen property, and his lawyer, Dane DeKrey, explained prior to sentencing that he was trying to pull off one last score after an old associate with mob connections informed him that the shoes needed to be embellished with genuine jewels to support their $1 million insured value. However, a fence buyer who purchases stolen goods later informed him that the rubies were merely glass, according to DeKrey. Martin then threw the slippers away. The lawyer did not say how.
In March, the suspected fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Crystal suburb of Minneapolis, was charged. When he appeared in court for the first time, he was also on oxygen and in a wheelchair. Although his lawyer has stated that he is not guilty, he has not made a plea and is set to stand trial in January.
After being loaned to the museum, the shoes were returned to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw in February. Only four pairs are known to have survived, though Garland wore numerous pairs during the filming. In the film, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and say, “There’s no place like home,” in order to get back to Kansas from Oz.
The Judy Garland Museum will be one of the bidders. In addition to the $100,000 that Minnesota lawmakers put aside this year to assist the museum in purchasing the slippers, the city of Grand Rapids raised funds for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland festival.
The release of the film Wicked, which is a prequel of sorts that reimagines the role of the Wicked Witch of the West and is an adaption of the Broadway musical, has brought new attention to the Wizard of Oz story in recent weeks.
Other Wizard of Oz memorabilia, such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the original Wicked Witch of the West, is also up for auction.
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